Affiliations
Research Associate, Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, The City College of New York, New York, USA
Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering, Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, The City College of New York, New York, USA
Managing Partner, NxGen Partners, Dallas, TX, US
About the authors
Jeff Secor recently received his PhD and is currently a research
associate in physics at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers, The
City College of New York. His interests are in fundamental physics and
spectroscopy, with applications to photoactive nano compounds and solar-energy
harvesting. He has worked with optical studies of natural photosynthetic
systems, condensed matter and optoelectronics, and organic carbon dots. He
recently began working in the field of complex light and its applications to
physical spectroscopy. He is also an avid urban gardener.
Prof Robert R Alfano PhD is Distinguished Professor of Science and
Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY) of the City University of New
York. He has contributed greatly to the field of ultrafast laser science and is
a pioneer in the application of light and photonic technologies to the study of
biological, biomedical and condensed-matter systems. Some of his most
significant achievements include the discovery and description of the
supercontinuum, development of new tunable Cr3+/Cr4+
lasers, advances in laser spectroscopic and optical imaging techniques, and
studies of ultrafast pulse propagation in scattering media. He is a fellow of
the APS, OSA, IEEE, New York Academy of Sciences, and an Alfred P Sloan fellow.
He received his PhD in physics from New York University and spent eight years at
GTE Labs (now Verizon) before joining CCNY. He received the OSA Charles Hard
Townes award in 2008, SPIE Britton Chance Biomedical Optics award in 2012, the
APS Arthur L Schawlow prize in laser science in 2013 and OSA 2016 Feld Award in
Biophotonics.
Solyman Ashrafi PhD is a managing partner at NxGen Partners and a
technology entrepreneur with over 25 years of product development expertise. He
has previously led the social messaging, digital media (music and video),
financial services, advertising and rich communications services product teams
at metroPCS. Here he was responsible for all product partnerships with telecom
operators, internet companies, advertising agencies, video/music content
providers, search companies, app developers and OTTs. Prior to metroPCS, he
designed and built telecom networks for major operators in the US and Europe and
held executive positions at Nortel, Ericsson, LCC and CSC. During his career,
Solyman has raised money from multiple funds and launched a number of
venturebacked companies in software, technology and cloud-based applications.
Solyman was the stakeholder board member of an incubator for Nortel in 1997 and
an accelerator for Ericsson in 1999 for their investment on new technology
companies. He also worked closely with Roger Linquist (CEO and Founder) in the
2013 merger of metroPCS with T-Mobile. Solyman holds a PhD in applied physics, a
MEE in communications engineering, an MSc in wave propagation, and a BEE degree
in electrical engineering.
